RIYAD MAHREZ will only return to training if Leicester can guarantee his departure from the club at the end of the season.

The 26-year-old has gone AWOL and hasn’t turned up for training ever since his deadline day move to Manchester City failed to materialise last month.

Leicester rejected a £60m bid from the league leaders for Mahrez on a day that also saw the Algerian hand in a transfer request to try and force through a move.

Mahrez subsequently missed Leicester’s 1-1 draw with Swansea last weekend and looks set to be absent from their clash with Pep Guardiola’s men this Saturday.

The standoff is a threat to the second half of Leicester’s season and those in charge at the King Power stadium won’t want the situation to drag on for much longer.

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Riyad Mahrez tried to leave Leicester last month

The 2015/16 PFA Player of the Year reportedly wants Leicester to promise to sell him in the summer, but the Foxes are reluctant to make such a guarantee, fearing they will be forced into letting Mahrez leave for a cut-price.

Leicester are understood to be withholding the player’s £100,000-a-week wages until he returns to training and the two parties are believed to be a standstill, with the PFA even offering to mediate the situation.